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Monday, April 04, 2011 - 05.46 GMT |
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Steady increase
in voluntary returns of refugees – UNHCR |
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A growing number of Sri Lanka refugees are returning home in less than two years after the end of the decades-long conflict, the UNHCR said.
According to the UN refugee agency, during the first three months of 2011, a total of Sri Lankan refugees returned, mainly to Trincomalee and Mannar.
These figures show a rise compared with the period same period last year, which saw the voluntary return of some 400 individuals.
"We do expect during the year several thousand more refugees will return home, mainly from Tamil Nadu, but also from elsewhere in the world," UNHCR's representative Michael Zwack said.
Refugees who wish to return home can approach the closest UNHCR office in their country of asylum, the UNHCR said.
According to UNHCR most recent statistics as of mid 2010, there are 146,000 registered Sri Lankan refugees in 64 countries, with a majority – some 69,000 in 112 refugee camps and another 32,000 living outside camps in Tamil Nadu. The other main countries with Sri Lankan refugees are France, Canada, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Malaysia, Australia, the United States and Italy.
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